reasons biden ended up on the ticket with obama in 2008 was that in 2007 and 2008 running against hillary clinton, running against barack obama, it was biden who are often than not who would steal the show at those democratic debates. it never actually translated into votes for him but he impressed people in the obama campaign as somebody they wanted to have out there. you go farther back in his career when he first ran for president in 1988, he got derailed by a bit of a plagiarism scandal, but when he was using his own words, he was one heck of an orator. that was his reputation. a really strong communicator. i look at biden and his debate skills and communication skills, and i say escapable of doing what barack obama either couldn't or wouldn't do last week against mitt romney. >> right. professor reich, paul ryan is known for being an encyclopedia of numbers but can he effectively counter headlines like this one today, "gm to add 2,000 jobs in michigan"? if this race comes down to ohio and the auto rescue plays a major role there, that's a tough headline to counter for mr. ryan, isn't it? >>